IACLINTO-L Archives

From:
Subject: Great Search Tips
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 01:07:44 EDT

I read this recently and just tried it out:
I use the search engines from google.com and/or altavista.com. I used to
just put in Clinton Iowa genealogy or something to that affect hoping to find
new sites pertaining to Clinton county. Then I read.....
Put Clinton Iowa (or any phrase) in quotation marks and don't use caps --
"clinton iowa" The quotations keep the search engine from returning
everything with Clinton, everything with Iowa and also with Clinton Iowa.
The caps thing is great for surnames because, evidently, if you put Smith
with a cap S, it will only look for Smith with a cap S. If you put smith
with no caps, it will return the sites where Smith is in all caps (SMITH) or
typos with no cap or regular -- Smith.
Then put the plus sign and the word born or died (+ born or + died) This
really works. It returns web pages where both words are on the same page, so
"clinton iowa" + died gave me lots of pages of people who had died in CC and
also people from CC who had died. Try this with your surname or a location
and see if it doesn't work great! I got many more relevant web sites than
ever before. (One note -- Clinton + born will give you every Bill Clinton
site on the net!! <grin>)
This may not work with every search engine. When ever you use a new search
engine, be sure to check out their "How to" page where you may find even
more, and better, tips.
Good Luck --
Good Luck searching.

The More We Share, The More We Have To Share
Nettie Mae
Clinton Co., IA www.rootsweb.com/~iaclinto/
IA Orphaned Treasures www.rootsweb.com/~iaphotos/

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